LSLFBW: Chapter 96

After walking along the river for a day, they indeed found traces of beastmen activity in the surrounding area.

Qi Bai looked at the path formed by repeated trampling and said, “It seems that we have arrived at the Xishui Tribe.”

According to the information provided by Ma Sheng, they needed to walk along the direction of the tide for twenty days before heading toward the mountains in the west.

Finding Xishui and the Xishui Tribe meant that their trip was halfway successful.

Lang Ze said, “Today, everyone will eat some food prepared in advance, and we will set off immediately.”

Qi Bai nodded, turned around, and walked toward the carts.

“How is it?”

Seeing Qi Bai coming back, Diao Lan and the others hurried forward to ask.

Normally, once the team stopped, the hunting team would go out hunting while they would prepare food. Now everyone was waiting here. Once a habit was formed, changes would always make people feel uneasy.

“Take out the dried meat we brought from the tribe and distribute it now. We will set off immediately.”

Hearing this, Diao Lan turned around, took a rattan basket from the cart, and called everyone to come over to get the dried meat.

These dried meats were made by Qi Bai and everyone before they set out. Seasonings were added to the meat, marinated, baked in an oven and dried.

It wasn’t as good as fresh food, but eating it occasionally could be considered a change of taste.

As night fell, the group moved silently through the forest.

The forest in the middle of the night was full of dangers. There always seemed to be a pair of hungry eyes watching them in the dark night.

Qi Bai curled up in the bamboo basket, telling himself to go to bed quickly since he had to get up early tomorrow to cook. At the same time, he was sensitive to any movement outside the bamboo basket.

It wasn’t until drawn that QI Bai finally fell asleep.

It was almost noon when he woke up again.

The team was moving very quickly. QI Bai stuck his head out of the bamboo basket and looked around at the unfamiliar environment.

Unlike walking in the forest at night, the team had now returned to the plains area beside the river.

It could also be seen that this area should be an alluvial plain formed by a large river, and the road ahead shouldn’t be too difficult to travel.

Soon, the team’s pace gradually slowed down before finally stopping at the edge of the forest near the riverbank.

Lang Ze took four or five people to the nearby forest to hunt while several sub-beastmen worked together to put up the umbrellas again.

Qi Bai had completely given up on making these umbrellas open and close since it wasn’t easy to make these umbrellas made of fresh leaves obedient.

Fortunately, these materials weren’t difficult to obtain. They could be replaced with new ones at any time if damaged.

The hunting team didn’t get much today, just a fawn and two hares. However, Lang Ze didn’t stay in the forest for too long. After all, everyone was hungry and sleepy after traveling all night.

Many people fell asleep before the barbecue was even cooked.

Even so, after resting for two or three hours, everyone continued to move forward as planned.

Qi Bai walked beside the team, fiddling with the vines in his hands all afternoon.

By the time they arrived at the next camp, the fish basket in Qi Bai’s hand was basically completed.

Niu Xi asked in confusion, “Bao Bai, why did you make such a weird rattan basket?”

The rattan basket in Qi Bai’s hand was oval in shape, with a lid that was wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. It was a style that Niu Xi had never seen before.

Qi Bai smiled and said, “This isn’t an ordinary rattan basket. This is a fish basket. Put this fish basket into the river water every night. We can go and have a look the next morning. Maybe there will be fish trapped inside.”

There were schools of fish in the river water. Since the river was wide, the fish that could be seen from the shore weren’t as ferocious as piranhas.

But at the same time, it would be too dangerous to go fishing in such a bottomless river. This was why QI Bai thought of making a few fish baskets.

It was okay if they didn’t catch any fish. If they did catch the fish, it would be extra food.

Niu Xi seemed to understand the words. He saw Qi Bai throw a few small insects into the fish basket before using a long vine to fix the fish basket to a stone on the shore. Then he ignored it.

The next morning when the night guards made a noise, Qi Bai immediately got up, ran to the river, and slowly pulled up the fish basket that had sunk to the bottom of the river.

The fish basket felt quite heavy in his hand, but the straw vines would definitely become heavier after being soaked in water. It wasn’t until Qi Bai felt the straw rope in his hand move that he was delighted and instantly quickened his movements.

The fish basket was on the shore, and water kept leaking from the gaps. QI Bai opened the basket and saw two river fish struggling at the bottom of the basket.

Qi Bai hurriedly returned to the team carrying the fish basket.

Morning was the best time of the day to travel. Not only was there no hot sun, but it also avoided the hunting time of wild animals.

Therefore, the team didn’t start a fire in the morning. The food they ate had been prepared the night before.

But the fish weren’t wasted.

Don’t forget that there were more than 100 catties of sugarcane piled on the cart. Yesterday, they temporarily stopped boiling brown sugar due to being in a hurry to travel. Of course, they had to continue this work today.

Qi Bai sat on the cart and took out an empty pottery jar. He killed and scaled two river fish, throwing them into the jar. Then he took out various seasonings from his small animal skin bag and threw them in.

The jar was placed next to another clay pot and simmered slowly over low heat. Once everyone took a break at noon, they could have a bowl of fish soup.

Niu Xi looked at the fish basket and smiled. “This is also good. Bai Bao, how do you come up with so many good things?”

Qi Bai was cutting sugarcane. Now he heard this and smiled. “This is actually the same as the rattan basket. I just added a lid. I thought that when these fish swim in, the lid is very wide, and it is easy for them to get in. However, it will be difficult for them to get out because the opening inside is very small.”

Quan Nan suddenly realized while squeezing sugarcane juice into a clay pot. “That makes sense.”

Qi Bai told them, “The tools we have are all like this. Every time we encounter difficulties, we can always find a way to solve them.”

Diao Lan stirred the foaming sugarcane juice in the pot and shook her head with a smile.

Due to limited space, unskillful tools, and only one clay pot, it took several people twenty days to cook nearly 200 catties of sugarcane.

They no longer had to walk due to making sugar, but everyone still suffered.

The scorching sun hung high in the sky. Even though there were parasols above everyone’s heads to provide some shade, they couldn’t completely block the heat from under the clay pot. The entire cart was like a small sauna.

Fortunately, they were walking along the bank of a big river, so they could take a shower to cool off any time without worrying about running out of water. Otherwise, most people wouldn’t be able to bear it.

But the harvest was also fruitful, with two jars of brown sugar, each jar weighing almost ten catties.

Hu Xue separated the two jars of brown sugar and hid them on the inside of the cart. For the Black Mountain Tribe, this brown sugar was more valuable than salt.

Therefore, the brown sugar couldn’t be discovered by anyone. Of course, it wouldn’t be taken out for exchange.

According to Hu Xue’s idea, all of these should be brought back to the tribe, but Qi Bai had a different opinion. Qi Bai took out a small piece of brown sugar and threw it into the ceramic pot where water was boiling.

“It isn’t easy for everyone to get this far. We can drink a bit of sugar water every day, which won’t consume too much.” Qi Bai stirred the brown sugar and said with a smile, “Besides, there are still so many sugarcanes by the Xishui River. We can bring some back to the tribe on the way back. We must let the members in the tribe taste it.”

OF course, what Qi Bai didn’t say was that now everyone consumed a lot of physical strength every day. At this time, it was necessary to replenish not just salt, but also sugar.

It would be a bit of a loss if he stored these urgently needed materials for the sake of saving.

Hu Xue looked at the clay pot with some hesitation. In her mind, let alone such precious brown sugar, even the animal skins they obtained every day were the supplies of the tribe. No one could use them easily with the consent of the priest and the chief.

Diao Lan patted Hu Xue’s head gently. “Since the priest and the chief have told us to listen to Bao Bai. You don’t have to worry about these things.”

Hu Xue wasn’t angry after being hit. Among the five sub-beastmen who went out, only Diao Lan was older than her and knew more than her. Once she heard Diao Lan say this, the anxiety in Hu Xue’s heart disappeared.

Hu Xue smiled and said, “That’s right. It is always right to listen to Qi Bai and Diao Lan.”

At this moment, a black horse came running toward them from a distance.

Qi Bai looked up at the sky. It was still light. Why did Ma Ling come back so early?

“Help me watch the water. Once it boils, put it directly into the bamboo tube. I’ll go down and see what is going on.”

Diao Lan took the branch from QI Bai’s hand and said, “Go ahead.”

Ma Ling turned into a human form and was now standing beside the white wolf. “There is a narrow opening in the river ahead. A large tree has been cut across the river.”

The surface of the Xishui River was very wide, almost one hundred meters near the Xishui Tribe. The Xishui River had gradually become narrower over the past few days, but its current surface was still over fifty meters.

Such a turbulent and wide river was definitely not something that ordinary beastmen could cross, unless they stopped and built a boat. However, this obviously wasn’t in line with the production capacity of the Xishui Tribe.

In addition, there was another point. The Xiaoniu Tribe also lived on this side of the river. They definitely needed a way to cross the river and enter the heart of the continent.

Qi Bai and Lang Ze looked at each other. Perhaps all this mystery would’ve been solved soon.

The white wolf nudged Qi Bai gently, and he immediately understood. If there was really a path that could pass through the river, then they would need to speed up today and rest directly on the other side of the river.

Qi Bai turned into beast form and jumped into the small bamboo basket holding his animal skin pants in his mouth.

“Awoo~”

Lang Ze sent a signal to those behind him to speed up.